dé·jà vu

déjà vu

/dé·jà vu/ (da´zhah voo´) [Fr.] an illusion that a new situation is a repetition of a previous experience.

déjà vu

(dā′zhä vo͞o′)

n.

Psychology The illusion of having already experienced something actually being experienced for the first time.

déjà vu

[dāzhä vY′, -vē′, -vo̅o̅′]

Etymology: Fr, previously seen

the sensation or illusion that one is encountering a set of circumstances or a place that was previously experienced. The phenomenon, which is normal in everyone but occurs more frequently or continuously in certain emotional and organic disorders, results from some unconscious emotional connection with the present experience. Compare jamais vu, paramnesia.

dé·jà vu

(dā-zhah' vū)

The perception that one has previously experienced a new experience. See also: jamais vu

[Fr. already seen]

déjà vu

The sudden mistaken conviction that a current experience has happened before. There is a compelling sense of familiarity and often a persuasion, almost always immediately disappointed, that one knows what is round the next corner.

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